Installing Drop Through Trucks

Drop through trucks come with a set of serious advantages. They make boards more stable, easier to slide, foot brake, and push.

Drop through trucks ride less carvy and surfy because the board sits lower. One easy way to combat this is by choosing a higher degree truck to still maintain some surfy feeling. At Concrete Coast, our boards ship with Caliber II trucks. These are ultra high-performance cast trucks that are built to hold up to some seriously aggressive skating. They ship in two models and if you are looking for a more surfy feel, grab the 50 degree. If you’re all about sliding and pushing distance, the 44 degree is a perfect fit.

How To Install Your Drop Through Trucks

Installing your own drop through trucks can seem pretty tricky at first. It’s no where near as simple as a top mount but can be fun to learn and helps you understand how your trucks work. Here’s our step-by-step breakdown to installing your drop through trucks.

Unscrew the nut on the kingpin bolt. This is the main bolt sticking out of the middle of the board.

Remove the bushing and metal cap.

While pulling hanger up away from the pivot cup, pull off the kingpin. This motion takes some getting used to and will feel pretty firm. Don’t worry, it would take a lot to break this piece and even though you might be strong, you still aren’t that strong!

Bolt baseplate to your deck. This doesn’t need to be crazy tight so don’t overdo this! Go until it won’t spin and you’re all set. Too far and it actually can damage the board.

Place inner bushing and metal cap on kingpin.

Slide hanger back in by first pushing inwards to pivot cup and then back down the kingpin bolt.

Place external bushing, metal cap, and thread nut to desired stiffness for turning.

So why does a drop through deck have less grip cornering?

By having the truck drop through the top of the board, you can’t put your weight directly on top. It’s tough to stand over a drop-through board so you’ll stand with your feet a bit closer. The added weight over a truck on a top mount helps add more friction to the wheels and they will hold better on corners because of this.

Why are drop throughs better for sliding?

To slide on a board the goal is to lose all traction. Drop-throughs lose traction easier and are more stable by keeping your center of gravity lower.

So why do downhill skaters use top mount and still slide?

As you learn to push the limits on a longboard and take on greater speeds, you'll want as much traction as you can have. Top mount trucks provide this and at speed are still great for engaging a slide. Speed is your friend when you slide and can take the most grippy setup and release traction.

We recommend starting out on with drop through trucks to learn how to slide, and if you want to push long distance. Once you are skilled at slide and getting more into downhill and freeride you may find a top-mount setup will work best for more aggressive skating.